The hosts of the Chopin Competition had to wait twenty years for another home-bred winner. Fortune smiled on the Poles in the 9th edition, held in 1975. Krystian Zimerman, a pupil of Andrzej Jasiński, went down in the history of the Competition as the youngest winner of the first prize and of the special prizes for the best performances of mazurkas and of a polonaise. He was also the undisputed idol of the public. Soviet pianists also enjoyed an upturn in fortunes, occupying the next three places (Dina Yoffe, Tatiana Fedkina and Pavel Gililov in second, third and fourth place respectively).
During the seventies, it became a tradition to perform Mozart’s Requiem on the anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin’s death: 17 October. That work was heard during the composer’s solemn funeral at St Mary Magdalene’s in Paris in 1849; in Warsaw, the annual concert is held at the Church of the Holy Cross, where Chopin’s heart is enshrined.
Another innovation was to present the winners of the first three places with medals: gold, silver and bronze. The medals, designed by Józef Markiewicz, were produced by the State Mint.
